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Rating

9Overall

9
Importance

8
Innovation

9
Style

Recommendation

President Barack Obama’s historic political campaign deserves to be studied for its innovative organization, volunteer effort, fundraising and use of technology. But it is also a compelling story about an unlikely candidate and the highly motivated expert team that pulled off one of the greatest game-changing upsets in U.S. political history. Obama campaign manager David Plouffe (rhymes with “bluff”) has written a diary-like firsthand account that delivers insights and perspectives previously known only to insiders. While he tells his story chronologically, the suspense builds as internal and external opponents battle and fall by the wayside. getAbstract recommends this engrossing David-and-Goliath story to leaders, political aficionados, technology and media buffs, and anyone interested in overcoming huge odds to become a winner.

In this summary, you will learn

What happened on the inside of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign

How Internet technology and a disciplined grass-roots campaign transformed U.S. politics

How Obama’s experts built a winning political organization

About the Author

David Plouffe served as Dick Gephardt’s chief of staff, and managed three congressional races and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Plouffe and David Axelrod were the lead strategists on Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate bid. After managing Obama’s presidential run, Plouffe helped set up Organizing for America, a 13-million-person Obama-support organization.

Summary

The Audacity of Obama Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign could be the most unlikely winning effort in U.S. political history. Not only did Obama – a one-term U.S. senator with only four years in the Illinois Senate – beat Hillary Clinton for the nomination, he defeated veteran Senator...